Tate Barnett
Character Summary Tate Barnett is the fifth protagonist in the Chronicles of Wrath and is the main character of Champion, which follows the team in their last effort as what seems to still be a group: taking down an old friend who's gone completely rogue. Personality Tate is the most heroic on the team in personality, though that is somewhat undermined by his caliber's attached anger issues; while Tate is generally kind-hearted, extremely selfless, and very moral, the alternate, furiously violent side of him can take over due to his ability's unfortunate side effects. While he's often almost too perfect (suspiciously so, in the opinions of some), it took him a long time to move away from being self-righteous, self-absorbed, and self-obsessed, a condition that was caused due to his unnatural success as a boxer. When coming to Evergrove, he decided to start from a clean slate and cultivated a more heroic personality that has now become habit for him, in part thanks to Faye Durant. Tate is heroic, caring, loyal, kind, and occasionally brash (such as when he punched Flynn in the face in front of an entire group of people at a gala), but he is not unnecessarily violent out of a lack of self-control; rather, his caliber is what causes the bouts of rage, and the ensuing sadness and guilt are caused by his own self-blame. He is not particularly smart, but he is a successful soldier and playwright. Appearance Tate is tall and plain-looking, though he eventually comes to be viewed as monstrous due to his imposing stature, build, and the burn scars across one side of his face from a fire in book three. He has brown hair, a medium complexion, and bright red eyes. His human side is of Mexican and Australian descent, and he speaks with a cross between a Texan and an Australian accent. He does not dress well and is not at all handsome, especially when he is stood next to his lieutenant and best friend (Cameron Wells), but Tate has a politician's smile without intending to come across that way, which works in his favor when encountering strangers. He generally smells like summer and graham crackers, and often has cat hair on him due to owning nine cats. Abilities * Manipulator - Tate can manipulate the emotions of those around him, which is a very useful ability except when he falls into fits of blackout rage. When those occur and he activates his ability, he has the potential to cause massacres. He dislikes being a Manipulator, partly because it means he is monitored heavily and partly because the power makes him feel guilty. * Military training: ** Krav Maga, or a like martial art ** Broadsword training - Tate is an expert with heavy swords ** Basic soldiering in preparation for war * Boxing training - Tate learned boxing from his grandmother, who put him into it instead of one of his sisters because he is large and left-handed (an advantage in boxing). He is an expert boxer and a former champion in five states from when he was younger, but tries to leave that behind him because it was a more brutal time. * Playwright - he is a good playwright and has become moderately famous through it. * Politics - he is skilled at politics, though his honesty often catches people off-guard and he isn't very good at a "means to an end" kind of route, which can cause trouble and problems between him and his lieutenant. Trivia * Tate puts too much sugar in his lemonade. * He was the first in the series to have a significant other that died. The second was Tess, but she and Flynn had already separated and his death is ambiguous. * He stops swearing as soon as he gets to Evergrove. * In his retirement, he opens an orphanage. * He never marries, but raises Claude Ward after the death of Claude's mother. Few other Wrath members have children, but he babysits when they are off killing people and takes in any lost kids who need help. * He returns to boxing, but only as a teacher (just like his grandmother) because he is too old to continue fighting by the time he gets back into it. * His intern from book five eventually becomes more famous than Tate. * Tate's best friends at the end of the series are Cyr and Cam. * He focused on his speed when he was younger, to counteract the belief that bigger people were slower, and this saved his life in the end. * His favorite subject in school was P. E. * He entered Evergrove at nineteen when the cutoff was eighteen, but it was allowed as if he was a transfer student. * He retires from leading Wrath at forty-three years of age, older even than Mal, though he started letting his lieutenant take over at around thirty-nine. * Claude buys him a motorcycle with part of his first year's pay on Wrath.